Ultra Music Festival is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that occurs in March in the city of Miami, Florida, United States. The festival coincides with the annual Winter Music Conference, also held in Miami. Since expansion to 2 weekends in 2013, however, the two Ultra weekends are held on the weekends that begin and end WMC.

Ultra is held in Downtown Miami in Bayfront Park. It was a one-day festival from 1999 to 2006, a two-day festival from 2007 to 2010, and was a three-day festival in 2011 to 2012. In 2012, a record 55,000 people per day attended the festival.

Ultra Music Festival was founded in 1999 by business partners Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. The first ever Ultra Music Festival was held as a one day event at the end of the Winter Music Conference in 1999 with performances by Rabbit in the Moon and DJ Baby Anne. The event was held on South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida, and was a major success. In March 2000, the festival returned to South Beach as a one-day event; the festival was met with even more success and was renewed immediately for a third year. The 15th anniversary of Ultra Music Festival held in 2013 will be held over two weekends for the first time ever.

Growth to Downtown Miami

Because of the massive rise in attendance between 1999 and 2000, festival coordinators decided to relocate to Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami for the third annual event. UMF continued to bring the biggest names in electronic dance music to Miami with performances by Tiësto, EC Twins, Paul van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, Sander Kleinenberg, Photek, Josh Wink, DJ Craze, and Rabbit in the Moon from 2001 to 2005. With the record-breaking attendance of the seventh annual UMF in 2005, the festival was again relocated to a smaller (by area) venue, Bicentennial Park, for 2006. In 2007, with Winter Music Conference in full swing, Ultra Music Festival held its first two-day event at Bicentennial Park with a record breaking 50,000+ concert goers in attendance. Ultra Music Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary March 28–29, 2008 with performances by Tiësto, Underworld, Justice, Paul van Dyk, Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, MSTRKRFT, deadmau5, Annie Mac, Eric Prydz, Ferry Corsten, Calvin Harris, Moby, The Crystal Method, Boys Noize, Benny Benassi, Armand van Helden, Duck Sauce, David Guetta, Jes, Enur, Pete Tong, Jackal & Hyde, and Rabbit in the Moon.

With estimated attendance over 70,000, the festival set a new City of Miami record for number of tickets sold at a single event. The 11th annual UMF occurred March 27–28, 2009; the lineup including more crossover acts and live bands like The Black Eyed Peas, The Prodigy, The Ting Tings, Santigold, Crystal Castles, The Whip, and Perry Farrell. The 12th annual UMF took place March 26–27, 2010, with headlining performances again by Tiësto]] and deadmau5, as well as performances by David Guetta, Orbital, Little Boots, Sasha & Digweed, Above & Beyond, and The Bloody Beetroots. Each stage was accompanied with visual arts provided by VJs Vello Virkhaus, Psyberpixie, and Cozer. The festival sold out for the first time with over 100,000 attendees, where it was announced that the 13th annual event would take place over the course of three days in March 2011.

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